Egbert

Who was Egbert?

Egbert was the Archbishop of Trier from 977 until his death.

Egbert was a son of Dirk II, Count of Holland. After being trained in the abbey of Egmond and the court of Bruno I, Archbishop of Cologne, he became the chancellor of Otto II in 976. The following year he was appointed to the archdiocese of Trier. In 984, he joined the conspiracy of Henry II, Duke of Bavaria, to dethrone Otto, but the following year returned to the allegiance of Otto.

Egbert was a known patron of science and the arts. Egbert himself commissioned the Registrum Gregorii. He was also the recipient of the early Romanesque illustrated Codex Egberti, which was probably produced at Reichenau. Beginning with his tenure, however, Trier came to rival Reichenau as the artistic centre of the Ottonian world.